FAQs

How do I make an appointment?

To schedule an appointment or inquire about - Marty “Riet” McEwen, Ryan Thomas, Jay Quarles, Steve Pearson, Brad Dozier, or Courtney O’Shea, please fill out the form here. Kirk George and Nathan Fisher will take limited appointments for larger custom imagery in their style that doesn’t fit within a walk-in slot and you can email to inquire.

Jay Quarles - Jay is currently working from a wait list. If you’re interested in discussing a tattoo with Jay please fill out the form found in the paragraph above. We will notify you of an estimated wait time and work through your ideas in depth providing you with a cost and time estimate. You will be assigned a wait list number and when your number comes up for scheduling, we will give you a call with his availability. We’re typically calling a month in advance. Scheduling is based on his current work load, along with existing clients. Multiple session pieces will get preference.

Jon Ragoe - Jon takes a limited number of appointment requests starting at 10am on the 15th of every month. If you’re interested in booking with Jon click here, fill out the form and attach any needed references. We will follow up within 3 to 5 days. Once we’ve reached our maximum number of requests for the month the form will no longer be available to fill out. If you missed it this month, don’t fear, you can submit the following month on the 15th starting at 10am. When filling out the form, please be as descriptive as possible. If you’re an existing client of Jon’s, there’s no need to fill out the form, just email or call to discuss scheduling. PLEASE NOTE - if you’re an existing client and you’ve already been given a cost and time estimate, you can call anytime between the 25th and the 1st of each month to get priority booking options.

Do you have to have an appointment? Do you take walk-ins?

We do work by appointment but we gladly accept walk ins, if our schedule allows. Kirk George and Nathan Fisher take clients on a first come first served basis starting at Noon Monday - Saturday, with the exception of Wednesdays. Courtney O’Shea takes walk-ins on Wednesdays. We are unable to hold spots for walk ins via phone or email, so you do have to visit us in person for a walk in. If you don’t have an appointment, you’re welcome to call ahead to see what the day’s work load is like. If you are seeking larger work, we always suggest making an appointment to allow proper preparation time. We are able to work off of a waiting list each day, if our schedule is full. You can leave us your name and number and if someone cancels or we finish an appointment early, we can give you a call.

What are the shop hours?

What forms of payment do you accept?

We prefer cash payments for deposits and tattoo services and we have an ATM on site. We’ll accept a card over the phone or Paypal online for deposits in the amount of $50 or $100. If you prefer credit card, we accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and AMEX.

Where are you located?

209 10th Ave S Ste 208 Nashville, TN 37203 - We are located inside of Cummins Station in downtown Nashville. Cummins Station is on the corner of 10th Ave South and Demonbruen. We are inside the building on the street level floor in suite 208. Metered parking is available along 10th Ave S in front of the building. Free street parking is available further down 10th Ave S. as it turns into Palmer Place. There is also a pay lot across from Cummins Station. Another pay lot, located at 127th 8the Ave S, is the cheapest pay lot option and a super short walk away. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer parking validation at this time. Once you’re in front of our building, you can’t see us from the street. Head in any of the four main entrances across the front and head towards the south end of the building - away from Demonbruen.

Do you guys do piercing?

No, we only tattoo.

How old do you have to be to get tattooed?

The state of Tennessee requires that you are at least 18 years of age to get tattooed. Valid ID, license, military ID, or passport is required to get tattooed.

Can I bring my child to my appointment?

By law, you have to be at least 18 years of age to be allowed in our work areas.

How do you price tattoos?

We price based on size and detail. We have a shop minimum of $80. Everything starts there and goes up depending on size and detail. We only charge hourly rates for larger, extensive work. Hourly rates vary between artists.

Can you explain the overall scheduling process?

Black 13 consists of nine artists and three assistants that deal with what we call our customer and artist relations. When a customer calls, emails, or stops in, we work with them individually to understand their needs and determine the artist best suited for them. We feel that our artists are at their best when they are focusing on their artwork, due to the amount of time needed to prepare and fulfill each appointment. Our assistants work on behalf of the customer and the artist to discuss ideas, estimate cost and time involved, and schedule the customer. They will be the main point of contact along the way. The scheduling process does take time and often involves multiple emails or phone calls to follow up with a customer before everything is nailed down. Often times we will schedule a consultation for the artist and customer to meet after we have started working through ideas and prior to final scheduling. While we strive to work in an efficient manner, we aren’t trying to rush through things for the sake of getting more customers in. Our goal has always been to provide quality work with a quality experience and we believe that while this takes more time, it’s well worth it and delivers the best outcome.

On top of the daily workload, our artists travel from time to time, so we occasionally experience a slightly longer turn around time while working through ideas. We always try to let you know ahead of time when a artist is unavailable and the turnaround time may be extended. We can typically follow up with most ideas within two to three business days. We are able to work smaller ideas in as walk ins the same day depending on our schedule. On average, our wait time for a tattoo can span anywhere within 3 to 5 days to, sometimes, 2 to 4 months depending on the ideas and artist best suited for the work. If you’re looking to get in day of or only have specific days in mind, we always suggest stopping in or giving us a call. While we may not be able to discuss all the details in full at the first point of contact, we can at least determine if we may be able to work with your timeline quicker than we can through email. For any type of scheduling, please provide as much info as you can at the beginning of the process to help us get started faster. Don’t worry about being too detailed, we like it.

Why so much communication prior to scheduling? We want our customers and our artists to be as informed as possible. Once we put you in the schedule we want to know that we have a solid understanding of what you want so the artist can prepare your sketch and have it ready for your appointment. All of our artists feel comfortable working within certain styles so thorough communication up front assures us that we have you with the artist best suited for your needs. Due to our workload, its hard for us to sketch prior to scheduling a appointment. Because of this, we communicate as much as possible prior to scheduling and build time into the appointment to show you the sketch, make any needed changes, and finalize the details before we start the tattoo. Please note that if you change your idea at all prior to a scheduled appointment, you must contact us in advance to discuss the changes. Not doing so may result in us rescheduling the appointment and the customer possibly losing the deposit.

Please continue to read below for information on appointments, deposits, after-care, and other general questions.

I sent an email or submitted a form. Now what?

Please wait ever so patiently. We promise that we want to respond to your email or online booking submission. We like details and specifics so our email responses require a good bit of time for each customer. When sending your first email you will get an automated response letting you know we got it. Our shop email address filters through Lauren, Elle, or Ren and they work with the artists directly to assist you and answer any questions.

A non-refundable deposit for an appointment? What's that about?

When making the appointment, we require a $50.00 or $100.00 non-refundable deposit to setup and hold the appointment. The deposit comes off the total cost of your tattoo. The price of the deposit depends on the size of the piece you are getting for the scheduled appointment. A lot of work goes into setting up and preparing for an appointment. Taking a deposit gives us security to begin work and gives us more assurance that a client is serious. Deposits are non-refundable! If you can’t make an appointment we require at least 48 hours notice by phone or in person, or you will lose the deposit. If you don’t show up, you lose the deposit. If you cancel in advance, you don’t lose the deposit. We will roll the deposit to your new appointment time. We value our time and yours, please give us as much notice as possible when canceling.

When a customer has multiple sessions to complete a piece, we will roll the deposit to each appointment and it comes off the last appointment’s cost.

If you are out of town, we accept a mailed money order, card over the phone, or online payment through Paypal. Cash is greatly appreciated in person.

What happens if I miss my appointment?

While we prefer at least a weeks notice, we require at least 48 hours notice to cancel an appointment. If notice is not given, or a customer doesn’t show up, they will lose their deposit. If it’s for an all day appointment or a “no call no show”, the customer will lose the deposit, and must pre-pay for the session to be rescheduled.

I booked an appointment, but changed my idea. Now what?

Please let us know as far in advance as possible. We put a lot of time and effort into our schedule and like to be as prepared as possible. If you change your idea but don’t tell us till your appointment - (1) We may not have you with the artist best suited for your new idea. (2) We may not have enough time scheduled for you to allow for drawing and tattooing the new idea. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than to spend a lot of time drawing for an appointment just to have the client show up with an entirely new idea. Please keep us informed.

How do I care for my tattoo?

If you lost your copy of the after-care instructions, you can download another one here (file is in PDF format).

Do your artists do coverups?

If it’s possible, yes. The best place for us to start with coverups is to see your existing tattoo and discuss your ideas for the new piece. From there, we can better determine if it’s possible. The general rule for coverups is that the new idea will need to be 2 to 3 times larger than the existing tattoo, and in color. You’re welcome to email us photos, or stop in and have us take photos. Once we have photos and ideas, we will discuss with all of our artists and follow up with you. Keep in mind that laser treatment is always a good option when you have a tattoo you are unhappy with. Laser treatment makes it possible to lighten the existing tattoo and give you more options on what will work to cover your tattoo.

Can you rework my old tattoo?

If it’s possible, yes. The majority of the time we are very limited on what we can do, if anything at all, with an existing tattoo in poor condition. As with coverups, we will need to see the existing tattoo to know if we are able to rework it. You can email a photo or stop by and let us take a photo. Once we have photos and ideas we will discuss with all of our artists and follow up with you. If we don’t feel like we can truly make a tattoo better, we will let you know that we are unable to rework it.

What about touch ups?

Depending on the approach, placement, or idea, a touch up may be needed once the tattoo heals. Please note that it is completely natural to see a tattoo lighten up over the first few weeks of healing and that no tattoo heals as bright as the day it was completed. Once the tattoo is fully healed (four to five weeks), you will be able to notice if anything needs touched up. We do offer free touch ups (see exceptions below) within the first three months of receiving the tattoo. After this, there are many factors that come into play that can impact the overall look of the tattoo and that is why we are unable to offer free touch ups after a considerable amount of time has passed.

Touch up exceptions:

Not every part of the body will hold ink well. While we don’t tattoo many of these areas (see next section below), we do tattoo feet, hands, and the tops of fingers. These areas are known to have heavy skin regeneration and lots of “wear and tear” causing the tattoo to have a harder heal. It’s typical that within days you will start to see ink fallout and the overall piece be in need of a touch up by the time the tattoo is fully healed.

Don’t fear! This is to be expected. We’re happy to touch up these areas but there will be a charge involved due to the known healing and longevity problems.

Within tattooing, Is there anything you won't do?

We want to do tattoos that we know will hold up well over time and look the best possible for a client. For this reason, we have chosen not to tattoo the following areas - sides of fingers, palms, inside lips, or bottom of feet. We don’t do all white tattoos or black light tattoos. We don’t offer any type of temporary tattoos.

Tattoos have to be a certain size to work and hold up well over time. Depending on your ideas and design, we can show you the smallest we can go with an idea.